This design goes back to at least 09, I had an older Altima that my daughter now uses for work. There is a way to disable it but I’ve never done it. This year I’ve been using a battery minder or Pulsetech on all 3 of my Nissans, just to keep my batteries healthy. Prior to, I never really charged them yet still got 4 yrs out of my batteries. The charging system just plain old sucks and tries to squeeze and extra 1/100th mpg or there abouts. That’s probably an exaggeration but you get the point. I’ve monitored many miles of alternator activity and what I’ve found is 14.5 for the 1st 5 miles, then throttles down in the 12.8-13.2 area for as long as an hour on cruise control or acceleration. Only when idling or coasting does the voltage rise. I had a 100% fully charged battery and drove 600 miles round trip on the highway, then tested at home to see the battery was 69% charged.
Disabling Smart Alternator on 2019 Sentra ?
- Thread starter SwampSurvivor
- Start date
Some vehicles have a problem with the ECU alternator circuit burning out, so aftermarket "solutions" have popped up.
It may be possible on today's cars, to simply go 'old-school' and install an external voltage regulator that can be adjusted to the voltage needed.
https://alternatorparts.com/external-voltage-regulator-high-output-alternator-kit.html
It may be possible on today's cars, to simply go 'old-school' and install an external voltage regulator that can be adjusted to the voltage needed.
https://alternatorparts.com/external-voltage-regulator-high-output-alternator-kit.html
I like the one I posed because you can angle the display so that you can actually view it.
This thread might be helpful.
my 2011 fronty is not driven much being retired BUT i have been using a 4.3 C-Tek on it for years. bought used it had a flooded interstate that was 10 YO + i replaced it "just because" with a wally battery made in reading pa which is close to me + it continues t run well, + just did a yearly oil change with HPL passenger car oil at 60 thou, a great truck that server me well with minimal gadgets 6 spd man 4.0 + NO DI !!!! changed ALL drivetrain lubes just after purchase in jan 2018 with 27,xxx miles on it with RedLine lubes due to age + picked up 2 to 3 mpgs averaging mostly 17 mpgs with a lot of short trips
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With your extreme short tripping, you need an external charger connected at least once a week. Better yet, connect a battery maintainer every day. Even if you could neuter the Nissan BMS, your battery would still be chronically under charged because of the short tripping and battery drain while the car is parked for a month.
I short tripped my 08 Silverado that has the smart charging and it was smart enough to catch on and compensate, running 14.5-15.1 volts depending on temperature. The truck saw a 2.5 mile trip to the dump, a minute of idling, then 2.5 mile trip home, once a week. It kept up, though I threw a smart charger on it once a winter "just because." I feel like Chevy's version measures, among other things, cranking voltage and can tell a low battery by how the truck starts. I have NOTHING to back this up, aside from my closely watching an aftermarket voltmeter, which OP should also get.
I would absolutely "de-pin" it or do whatever necessary mod, as long as it doesn't cause codes that flunk your emissions.
I would absolutely "de-pin" it or do whatever necessary mod, as long as it doesn't cause codes that flunk your emissions.
I'm not entirely sure that just pulling the current sensor on the alternator works anymore on the newer vehicles. I have a '24 Outlander which is basically a Nissan Rogue and through my experimentation, pulling the sensor didn't seem to do much.
I would love to find a good answer on how to bypass this, but unfortunately it seems this just is the way modern vehicles are designed. It never fully charges the battery due to:
1. Reduce alternator load on idle/acceleration
2. Uses the battery room as a sort of pseudo regen to capture energy during braking/decelleration
Nissan specified an EFB battery specifically because they are technically designed to operate under partial states of charge. EFB batteries have extra carbon in the plates which is supposed to help. IMO it's still not ideal to run the battery that low since it's still the same inherent lead acid chemistry, but that's just how they designed it. If you were to replace the battery with an AGM/flooded, it likely won't last as long.
Since you are short tripping the vehicle, probably the only thing you can do is hook it up to a charger regularly to top up. Performing an equalizing charge occasionally to desulfate would probably help too.
I would love to find a good answer on how to bypass this, but unfortunately it seems this just is the way modern vehicles are designed. It never fully charges the battery due to:
1. Reduce alternator load on idle/acceleration
2. Uses the battery room as a sort of pseudo regen to capture energy during braking/decelleration
Nissan specified an EFB battery specifically because they are technically designed to operate under partial states of charge. EFB batteries have extra carbon in the plates which is supposed to help. IMO it's still not ideal to run the battery that low since it's still the same inherent lead acid chemistry, but that's just how they designed it. If you were to replace the battery with an AGM/flooded, it likely won't last as long.
Since you are short tripping the vehicle, probably the only thing you can do is hook it up to a charger regularly to top up. Performing an equalizing charge occasionally to desulfate would probably help too.
I would just hook it to a battery tender every so often.
I wonder what would happen if you physically removed the current sensor, but left it plugged in. As in it no longer is measuring any current, because no wire is going through it, but left it plugged in, presumably because then the computer won't see an open circuit there.
My guess is it wouldn’t see any current draw and would charge even less.
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